Cap ImplicationsTucker -$4.0M total ($1.0M/year until 2013 - if you have a baby this Leaf season, your child will be in Junior Kindergarten when this salary comes off the books)

Raycroft -$1.266M total ($533K in 2008-09; $733K in 2009-2010)

McCabe +$11.45M total ($2.85M in 2008-09 and 2009-10; $5.75M in 2010-11)

Cheap EditorializingMcCabe and a 4th for Van Ryn: apparently I'm one of three members of Leafs nation that doesn't like this deal. I'll let Alan Ryder 'splain why. (I also have a completely irrational fear that Van Ryn will get hurt 10 days before the trade deadline making him unmovable in 2009).

Tucker (waived) - Mayers (acquired for a 3rd round pick): an aging grinder, former PP sniper now in decline swapped out for an aging grinder PK specialist who's allegedly not in decline.

Wellwood (waived) - Grabovski (acquired for a 2nd and 5th round pick): a small, soft, unproven second line centre waived to make room for a small, soft unproven second line centre.

Belak (traded for a 5th) - Holwegg (acquired for 5th) - Meh. If Holwegg plays more than 35 games something is seriously amiss in the land of alleged young player development.

5 comments:

Alright, seeing as the 2nd and 3rd we gave up for the right to draft Schenn over Colin Wilson or Mikkael Boedker aren't really a point of dispute for Leafs fans (though I'm tempted to make a case for it) we've essentially, in terms of net assets, moved a 4th round pick for:

Over $6 million in cap space over the next three years.

Getting rid of McCabe's sorry ass, in order to distribute his minutes to one of either Stralman, Cola, or Frogren.

And then used free agency to add to our defensive depth on the back end and on the last two forward lines/PK.

I can't say I'm displeased with that, all our quality moveable assets refused to waive their no-trade clauses, as Leafs nation seems to forget so quickly. Were we really expecting first and second round picks to just materialize out of nowhere? Same with top-level scoring? The team didn't add any major assets this off season because they had none to deal with.

I think this trade goes to show the two fundamental problems with the Leafs:

1. They are run on a populist (aka please the customer) basis. Trading McCabe made no sense what so ever if the best you can get is Van Ryn. Leafs corporate didn't want to ruffle the feathers of the masses, and saw something they could do to make themsleves look good in the eyes of the fans. McCabe has never been nearly as bad as he's been made out to be, and suddenly, people are crawling out of the woodwork saying the same thing.

2. For the most part, running a team based on the opinions of a bunch of fans will not get you one step closer to success. Teams like Montreal and Detroit have always done what was best for the team, not their fanbase. Look at Detroit, they let Darren McCarty walk a few years back. Fans were pissed as they saw him as one of their own.

Long story short, we should have held on to McCabe until he softened his position even more on a trade. Allowing him to pick two teams, one of which was not interested in him was of no help, but management jumped at the first chance to "do right by the fans." And now, instead of having three top 2 defenders, we have two. That sounds like a step backwards...

Thanks for the comments - I should clarify that I'm not that displeased with Fletcher. I'd probably give him a b- or a c+ on his work to date.

I do find it mildly troubling/disappointing that Fletcher and the Leafs have to shed more players for picks just to get back to zero with their own draft picks, never mind what they're going to have to do to get a surplus of picks/prospects into the system.